With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Senevri · Oct 7, 2023

NightmareWarden said:
Which religion has giants? Norse, Old Testament…? Some equivalents of the American heartlands realm?

Which ones don't?

MacShimi · Oct 7, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Where dose she live?"

Typo: replace "dose" with "does."

Lord Ernest · Oct 7, 2023

This is painting a dangerous picture. What's Mannheim doing infiltrating the divine realms? Where are Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, most of all? Those two are the main men of this Pantheon and if they were taken out that's nerve-wracking.

On the other hand, I'm glad they're moving forward with this side of the investigation but I was actually hoping to follow the other teams showed on the interludes a bit more, those cliffhangers were too interesting to just leave them like that.

Handlewithcare · Oct 7, 2023

NightmareWarden said:
Which religion has giants? Norse, Old Testament…? Some equivalents of the American heartlands realm?

Pretty sure it's supposed to be the hearts of the other gods

earlyriser · Oct 7, 2023

Ghhhhhhhhhhhh

"Welcome to the world of tomorrow!"
"Not the time, Kon"

Mr Zoat · Oct 7, 2023

moralrelativity said:
foes -> does

Vanbers said:
does

Citizen said:
"hand" I think.

Ngamer11 said:
After rereading, I found that you previously spelled these as 'Heraklya'.

Duke Long said:
Not sure how I'd fix it exactly, but this sentence is strange.

Thank you, corrected.

'than normal mortals.'? It could just be informal speech, though.

It was.

Darko · Oct 7, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
"That is not how we used it." Qualpopoca sounds uncertain. He's had hundreds of years and he hasn't tried studying magic

The consequences of no longer aging or fearing death.

You can easily put something off for centuries without worrying since you'll still be around centuries later.

Lord Ernest said:
This is painting a dangerous picture. What's Mannheim doing infiltrating the divine realms

Probably trying to destroy them or absorb them.

BartlettMagic · Oct 7, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
Philippus shrugs. "Amazon comedy is often bawdy. As well you know. Particularly where men's activities are concerned."

another awkward one- maybe "As you well know."

Stsword · Oct 7, 2023

In the comics Darkseid consumed the gods of many planets to increase his power Highlander style.

This drove the now godless people mad, and they gathered a fleet to destroy the Earth.

The New Gods changed their minds by pointing out that Earth has more gods than you can shake a stick at, so if they wanted new gods to worship it would basically be a matter of researching until they find gods they'd like to worship, a task the New Gods offered to help with.

The fleet started flying away, and then Orion, possessed by Desaad, blew them all up.

So in DC one could write a story in which people visit an alien planet and discover that the local gods are in a fact a Frankenstein pantheon made up of earthly deities.

The point relevant here, perhaps Mannseid is likewise trying to empower himself Highlander style by preying on the local deities.

moralrelativity · Oct 7, 2023

BartlettMagic said:
another awkward one- maybe "As you well know."

I took that as a quirk of Themescirian speech. (Yes, I know I mangled that spelling but I can't be bothered looking it up.)

Phili · Oct 8, 2023

Man, I'm rereading this story again, and every time I reread this story from the beginning, I get sad when they fight Klarion for the first time and Paul gets Teekl, because I know what happens to her. I want Teekl back

She can be revived, get an indigo ring and do a team-up with Dex-Starr and everything will be happy.

Old Knife · Oct 8, 2023

I kinda wish Paragon Paul ends up in 40k along with Eris.
Cause for all the crazy shit that happens in the Grimdark future of the Imperium.
It still isn't C̵̨̡̛̦̙̦̳̖͉̜͔̟̟͎̱͈̞̝̳̖͚͔̪̭̭̰̤͙͉̠͓̃̇͛́̀̉͆͑̀̾̉̈̉̀̊̈́̾h̶̲̠͙̩̬͔̱̠͚̬͖͉͕̪́̎͆͌̀͆͛͊͆̿͆͗́͆̋͐̐̍̌͑̾̃͒̋̔͗͋̊̈́̇̐̋͋̚̚̕͝a̷͓̗͔̤̦̬͖̯͎̞̪̣͛̈̋̀̆̐̾̒̅̑͝ǫ̸̡̧̧̡̪̺͖̺̻̲̠̣̺̱̫̮̻͙̥͚͚̙̜̭̠͍̰̜͕̙̖̟̖̜̭͙̗̥͕͕̎̿̀̂͂̉͆̑̈́̌̊̊̒̃͒̃̕̚̚͘͜ͅͅş̵̩̙̜̗̥̖̬̱͎̜͕͉̠̘̞͉̳͙̼̲̩̹̰̼͍̦̱͕̜̎̓̀̐̇̾̀̏͠ͅ.

Phili said:
Man, I'm rereading this story again, and every time I reread this story from the beginning, I get sad when they fight Klarion for the first time and Paul gets Teekl, because I know what happens to her. I want Teekl back
She can be revived, get an indigo ring and do a team-up with Dex-Starr and everything will be happy.

She comes back and Klarion gets his powers back. They're kinda linked.

Mr Zoat · Oct 8, 2023

17th February 2013
18:06 GMT

GIANTROBOTS!

I bend light around me, because confusing peoples' minds doesn't work against most robots, and I leap into the air, praying like hell they don't have some kind of air density detector because two of them were LOOKING RIGHT AT ME when I came through and I can see little hatches opening.

Darts-. Shit, no, fucking javelins get fired out, and the… Pyramid? Stepped South American pyramid gets covered in them, some getting deflected and bouncing along the ground and others embedding themselves in the stone bricks. M'gann-.

She's invisible-. 'least, I really hope she is, which means that neither of us can see the other and some of my spells interfere with telepathy.

Ah… Okay, hands in front of my chest, bind the air between them to seek my target and the air around me not to transmit sound outwards.

"Miss Martian, I'm uninjured and.. directly above the portal. About twenty metres."

I look down at the.. stone gateway, build into a small stone building on the top of the pyramid. Next to it there's an.. altar-.

Is that blood?

Aztecs. Yeah, they-. Focus.

"The robots probably can't detect telepathy, so link us up. Over."

I release the binding and the air vibrates. It's weird: this spell can't tell me where she is, but the vibrations will only find her.

The big robots are still looking at the top of the pyramid, so I guess they don't have any sort of magic detection build-in. Which isn't all that un.. usual…

Wait. I remember… Yeah, Paul was explaining why Atlantis wasn't thrilled about Black Adam knowing Queen… Ganymede? And it stuck in my mind because he said that one of his old friends was an Aztec with power armour powered by the blood of murdered children. He.. made a construct of what he thought it looked like. Those robots look a lot like that construct, only much bigger. What was his name… Zumak? No, that's not it, but I don't remember-.

**What are they?**

**Do you remember Paul talking about Black Adam's old friends?**

**Ah, like Rama Khan? And The Anointed One?**

**Yeah. Do you remember what the Aztec one was called?**

The giant robots keep their javelin launchers ready, but they don't fire again. But a.. squad? Yeah, a squad of power armour-sized robots… Or power armour, I guess, they march up the pyramid. Big power armour. Those things are about three metres tall and at least two wide. The metal they're made of look like… Bronze? Or gold? I thought that Aztecs used obsidian.

**There was an Aztec? I thought they were from further back in time than that.**

The smaller suits reach the top and start poking around, trying to see if there's anything there.

**Yeah. Zumak?**

**Let me just try-.**

M'gann goes quiet. That happens when she shapeshifts her brain, and if she's trying to do something to make it easier to remember-.

**Tezumak!**

**Yeah, that was it!**

**Didn't he die thousands of years ago? I think I remember Paul saying he died in a volcanic eruption.**

**I don't remember, but I don't think it matters. Other people had his technology.** Unless… **Okay, I need to cast a spell to find out where we are. They might be able to detect it, so… Get ready to run and hide.**

**Right.**

Sympathetic bonds are easiest, but there's a bunch of ways to just… Pick up magic resonances. Otherworld is where dead Celts -and Cornwalls- go. So are we somewhere real now, or are we in someone else's afterlife? So look for resonances of death and living, something that would pick up people who aren't alive but are still doing things. Doesn't really pick up anything in Otherworld because everyone except past Cornwalls has left, but if this is…

Yeah, I'm getting something. Dead… But it doesn't feel like it did when I used it on great-granddad. I don't know what it means.

**Okay, I… Think we're in the Aztec afterlife.**

**Is that bad?**

**They used to do ritual human sacrifice.**

**Okay, but they can't sacrifice dead people, right?**

**Not… Not in the same kind of way. There is energy in souls, obviously, it's just a lot harder to use if they're not in a body.** I take a closer look at the suits of power armour on top of the pyramid. **Tezumak wore one of those. Or.. one like it.**

**Oh no! Do you think they're kidnapping people to sacrifice them?!**

…

**Probably. I don't-.**

**We need to find him! Brian!**

**M'gann-. M'gann, don't-!**

**If you can hear me-!**

**Yes, little one. I hear you.**

I hear a stamp-. All the power armour suits on the pyramid are standing to attention, staring-. Staring up at me, and where I assume M'gann is.

**More hearts ready for harvesting.**

Clink.

The power armour suits unfurl metal wings-.

Form air, to M'gann. "Shut down telepathy and flee." Release. And then start flying and trying to remember everything Paul showed me about warding. Come on, LexCorp was printing the designs on paper, I should be able to-.

The power armour suits flap and the suits go flying into the air fast! Two shoot past me close enough for me to feel the pressure wave. I don't strengthen the spell, and I just let myself get pushed by it because when they're that close if they've got any magic detection system at all they'd pick up on it. Drop down, give them a worse angle for their dart-launchers, and… Ward against metal, that'll have to-.

One metal head jerks to stare down at me, a rain of darts plinking off the stone a moment- ooof- later! Fuck! Move! Down the pyramid, through that giant robot's legs and over-.

God damn it, there's a whole city here! The trees were just-!

Put the ward back up, and then-. It wasn't down, just weakened a little bit. Fix it, and then-. Yeah, that's a basic scry ward. Not as good as the one on Paul's skin, but it should work. Into the trees.

Where's the power armour?

Darts shoot through the tree branches just over my head! Ah, ah-. No, wait, they're shooting the whole tree line. They've lost me. Okay. Stay near the ground until they stop shooting, then try and get hold of M'gann-.

Five power armour suits suddenly turn… Left of the gate, and then fly that way as fast as they can. I bet they're going after M'gann, but there's a fat lot I can do about it. No, I think-. I think I should wait until the others move away, then scout around. Brian and hopefully the others are still around here, and I need to get them out.

Kiden · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
[h]hope[/b]

First h should be a 'b', I think.

Darko · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
stuck in my mind because he said that one of his old friends was an Aztec with power armour powered by the blood of murdered children

Oh, shit.

And a magical child will probably contain more power.

Mr Zoat said:
**Probably. I don't-.**

**We need to find him! Brian!**

**M'gann-. M'gann, don't-!**

**If you can hear me-!"

**Yes, little one. I hear you

Hopefully the kids aren't trapped in the armor.

moralrelativity · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
that us.. usual…

us -> un

Lord Ernest · Oct 8, 2023

I though M'gann had learned this lesson already! That was a rookie mistake and one she had already done before, so disappointing.

Still, glad we are following up on the other teams again. And I imagine what Cornwall and Miss Martian heard there was the voice of Tlazolteotl, the goddess that aligned with Mannheim.

Old Knife said:
She comes back and Klarion gets his powers back. They're kinda linked.

No, they're not. That link disappeared the moment she got converted into a Construct Lantern, that's why Klarion had to go bind a Djinn to himself for power. Besides that, Klarion doesn't have any power to get back, that belongs to John Constantine now. Klarion's soul got shredded during the ritual, or something similar, and his body got killed by the Chinese. So no, in the Paragon timeline, Klarion is the most dead that can be in a comic book universe ever.

Chojin Patriarch · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
17th February 2013
18:06 GMT

GIANTROBOTS!

I bend light around me, because confusing peoples' minds doesn't work against most robots, and I leap into the air, praying like hell they don't have some kind of air density detector because two of them were LOOKING RIGHT AT ME when I came through and I can see little hatches opening.

Ah, back to Cornwall and M'Gann. And now we get to see what they found. Somehow, though, I don't think these are robots. More concerningly, they got spotted, and now shit is going to get hairy.

Darts-. Shit, no, fucking javelins get fired out, and the… Pyramid? Stepped South American pyramid gets covered in them, some getting deflected and bouncing along the ground and others embedding themselves in the stone bricks. M'gann-.

She's invisible-. 'least, I really hope she is, which means that neither of us can see the other and some of my spells interfere with telepathy.

Ooh, bit awkward when you're working with a telepath, you know. Still, moment of panic, go with what you know best.

Ah… Okay, hands in front of my chest, bind the air between them to seek my target and the air around me not to transmit sound outwards.

"Miss Martian, I'm uninjured and.. directly above the portal. About twenty metres."

Ah, the benefit of air elemental magic.

I look down at the.. stone gateway, build into a small stone building on the top of the pyramid. Next to it there's an.. altar-.

Is that blood?

That building would be a small shrine or temple to the god the pyramid is devoted to, I believe.

Aztecs. Yeah, they-. Focus.

"The robots probably can't detect telepathy, so link us up. Over."

Let's hope they haven't got very good hearing, either.

I release the binding and the air vibrates. It's weird: this spell can't tell me where she is, but the vibrations will only find her.

The big robots are still looking at the top of the pyramid, so I guess they don't have any sort of magic detection build it. Which isn't all that us.. usual…

Seems a bit of an oversight, but really, the Mexica pantheon were never ones for subtlety.

Wait. I remember… Yeah, Paul was explaining why Atlantis wasn't thrilled about Black Adam knowing Queen… Ganymede? And it stuck in my mind because he said that one of his old friends was an Aztec with power armour powered by the blood of murdered children. He.. made a construct of what he thought it looked like. Those robots look a lot like that construct, only much bigger. What was his name… Zumak? No, that's not it, but I don't remember-.

Gamemnae, actually. But you can be forgiven for not remembering, it was a long time ago, and a lot's happened. Plus, most humans don't have that good a memory.

**What are they?**

**Do you remember Paul talking about Black Adam's old friends?**

Something off-screen, maybe? I sure don't remember.

**Ah, like Rama Khan? And The Anointed One?**

**Yeah. Do you remember what the Aztec one was called?**

...Then again, they probably got mentioned during OL's 'mission' involving Rama Khan.

The giant robots keep their javelin launchers ready, but they don't fire again. But a.. squad? Yeah, a squad of power armour sized robots… Or power armour, I guess, they march up the pyramid. Big power armour. Those things are about three metres tall and at least two wide. The metal they're made of look like… Bronze? Or gold? I thought that Aztecs used obsidian.

**There was an Aztec? I thought they were from further back in time than that."

Indeed. About three thousand years, after all. Which means he's from some ancient precursor culture. So these are more than likely more of him.

The smaller suits reach the top and start poking around, trying to see if there's anything there.

**Yeah. Zumak?**

Close. I'd say 'warmer', but this is M'gann we're talking to.

**Let me just try-.**

M'gann goes quiet. That happens when she shapeshifts her brain, and if she's trying to do something to make it easier to remember-.

**Tezumak!**

Gesundheit.

And that saves me having to link it.

**Yeah, that was it!**

**Didn't he die thousands of years ago? I think I remember Paul saying he died in a volcanic eruption.**

...Something like that. That was probably his original historical fate without Gamemnae's interference...

**I don't remember, but I don't think it matters. Other people had his technology.** Unless… **Okay, I need to cast a spell to find out where we are. They might be able to detect it, so… Get ready to run and hide.**

**Right.**

And given that this is likely Mictlan, these may well be multiple members of the same order as Tezumak.

Sympathetic bonds are easiest, but there's a bunch of ways to just… Pick up magic resonances. Otherworld is where dead Celts -and Cornwalls- go. So are we somewhere real now, or are we in someone else's afterlife? So look for resonances of death and living, something that would pick up people who aren't alive but are still doing things. Doesn't really pick up anything in Otherworld because everyone except past Cornwalls has left, but if this is…

The joy of working on something you aren't entirely certain about.

Yeah, I'm getting something. Dead… But it doesn't feel like it did when I used it on great granddad. I don't know what it means.

**Okay, I… Think we're in the Aztec afterlife.**

Best guess, eh? Shows that you still have a lot to learn, though you're not wrong.

**Is that bad?**

**They used to do ritual human sacrifice.**

So, pretty much yes, by most modern culture's standards.

**Okay, but they can't sacrifice dead people, right?**

**Not… Not in the same kind of way. There is energy in souls, obviously, it's just a lot harder to use if they're not in a body.** I take a closer look at the suits of power armour on top of the pyramid. **Tezumak wore one of those. Or.. one like it.**

Yeah, Rob's well outside the bounds of his knowledge.

**Oh no! Do you think they're kidnapping people to sacrifice them?!**

…

Nasty thought, isn't it? And more than likely correct.

**Probably. I don't-.**

**We need to find him! Brian!**

Dangit, M'gann. Too dang compassionate, she is.

**M'gann-. M'gann, don't-!**

**If you can hear me-!"

...All that effort put into stealth, and...

**Yes, little one. I hear you.**

I hear a stamp-. All the power armour suits on the pyramid are standing to attention, staring-. Staring up at me, and where I assume M'gann is.

...Ooh, that's not good.

**More hearts ready for harvesting.**

Clink.

Safe bet this is what's-her-name, the sin-eater, or one of her allies.

The power armour suits unfurl metal wings-.

Form air, to M'gann. "Shut down telepathy and flee." Release. And then start flying and trying to remember everything Paul showed me about warding. Come on, LexCorp was printing the designs on paper, I should be able to-.

Yup. Worst moment in any stealth mission: Seeing every mob in the area aggro on you. (

I would have linked that one possible scene from Metal Gear Solid or Solid 2 with the enemy briefing going on alert, but I couldn't find it...)

The power armour suits flap and the suits go flying into the air fast! Two shoot past me close enough for me to feel the pressure wave. I don't strengthen the spell, and I just let myself get pushed by it because when they're that close if they've got any magic detection system at all they'd pick up on it. Drop down, give them a worse angle for their dart-launchers, and… Ward against metal, that'll have to-.

Eesh, aggroing enemies way higher level than you. I feel that panic.

One metal head jerks to stare down at me, a rain of darts plinking off the metal a moment- ooof- later! Fuck! Move! Down the pyramid, through that giant robot's legs and over-.

God damn it, there's a whole city here! The trees were just-!

And knowing their luck, there's hundreds more of these guys out there...

Put the ward back up, and then-. It wasn't down, just weakened a little bit. Fix it, and then-. Yeah, that's a basic scry ward. Not as good as the one on Paul's skin, but it should work. Into the trees.

Where's the power armour?

Okay, line of sight and senses broken. Time to keep your head down.

Darts shoot through the tree branches just over my head! Ah, ah-. No, wait, they're shooting the whole tree line. They've lost me. Okay. Stay near the ground until they stop shooting, then try and get hold of M'gann-.

Five power armour suits suddenly turn… Left of the gate, and then fly that way as fast as they can. I bet they're going after M'gann, but there's a fat lot I can do about it. No, I think-. I think I should wait until the others move away, then scout around. Brian and hopefully the others are still around here, and I need to get them out.

And for all we know OL and company will be storming in from another direction any time.

Well, that was a tense moment. Hopefully Rob doesn't need to launder his uniform after that.

Still, no shame in panicking when you see something like an army of ancient Mesoamerican supersoldiers. Especially if they've noticed you. Time for Rob to channel his inner Solid Snake and engage in a sneaking mission.

Duke Long · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
The big robots are still looking at the top of the pyramid, so I guess they don't have any sort of magic detection build it. Which isn't all that us.. usual…

'built-in'
'un.. usual…'?

Mr Zoat said:
But a.. squad? Yeah, a squad of power armour sized robots…

'armour-sized'?

Mr Zoat said:
**Tezumak!**

I was wondering if this guy would show up in this arc.

Mr Zoat said:
Yeah, I'm getting something. Dead… But it doesn't feel like it did when I used it on great granddad.

'great-granddad.'

Mr Zoat said:
Ward against metal, that'll have to-.

One metal head jerks to stare down at me, a rain of darts plinking off the metal a moment- ooof- later! Fuck! Move! Down the pyramid, through that giant robot's legs and over-.

'off the metal ward'? Or am I misunderstanding?

BR549 · Oct 8, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
**More hearts ready for harvesting.**

You know, it's interesting that this is pretty much the same phraseology used by Black Lanterns.

Old Knife · Oct 8, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
No, they're not. That link disappeared the moment she got converted into a Construct Lantern, that's why Klarion had to go bind a Djinn to himself for power. Besides that, Klarion doesn't have any power to get back, that belongs to John Constantine now. Klarion's soul got shredded during the ritual, or something similar, and his body got killed by the Chinese. So no, in the Paragon timeline, Klarion is the most dead that can be in a comic book universe ever.

Which is still "Dead until we needed"
Besides, we've seen more far out resurrections. If the cat is reborn, then Klarion will somehow also be reborn because of that damned link to her.
Lords of Order/Chaos are constants.

Right now, both Fate and Klarion are out of the game.
If Fate succeeds in restoring his power, it'll somehow require the universe to create another Lord of Chaos or restore one.

Lord Ernest · Oct 8, 2023

Old Knife said:
Which is still "Dead until we needed"
Besides, we've seen more far out resurrections. If the cat is reborn, then Klarion will somehow also be reborn because of that damned link to her.
Lords of Order/Chaos are constants.

Right now, both Fate and Klarion are out of the game.
If Fate succeeds in restoring his power, it'll somehow require the universe to create another Lord of Chaos or restore one.

If this was a comic book I would concede the point, but Klarion is dead in all senses, including narratively. The story has more than moved on from him. The only connection Klarion had at the end with Teekl was a slight sympathetic one because she was part of the ritual of his ascension, and that link also got usurped during John Constantine's ritual to hijack Klarion's power.

For Klarion to come back, the reasoning would need to be as contrived as what passes for narrative in current comic books. There is just nothing tangible of him left, what was his soul is a mass of chaos energy already realigned to Constantine and his body is gone in nuclear fire (iirc). There is no existing link with Teekl as you're describing or expecting.

Stsword · Oct 8, 2023

Lord Ernest said:
For Klarion to come back, the reasoning would need to be as contrived as what passes for narrative in current comic books. There is just nothing tangible of him left, what was his soul is a mass of chaos energy already realigned to Constantine and his body is gone in nuclear fire (iirc). There is no existing link with Teekl as you're describing or expecting.

And even if he did come back, he'd need to do the ritual to become a Lord of Chaos again which would involve forging a familiar bond anyway. because ritually linking one's soul to the planes of Chaos or Order is the only known way to become a Lord in this fic.

Now in the comics becoming a Lord is more versatile, heck Amethyst inherited it, but I don't recall any evidence that it could be just bestowed even if the Lords of Chaos actually wanted Klarion back in this fic.

Mr Zoat · Oct 8, 2023

Kiden said:
First h should be a 'b', I think.

moralrelativity said:
us -> un

Duke Long said:
'built-in'
'armour-sized'?
'great-granddad.'
'off the metal ward'? Or am I misunderstanding?

Thank you, corrected.

BlackCoat13 · Oct 8, 2023

BR549 said:
You know, it's interesting that this is pretty much the same phraseology used by Black Lanterns.

I was thinking a lot worse, they never did catch that Black Speech guy from the Roanoke incident who used the Black Lantern Symbol to create a bunch of necromancer traps and some evil super babies.
In a world of Anti-Life, Manheimm would probably be very interested in a guy who knowns about Black Lantern Lore / Black Light Elemental.

Ngamer11 · Oct 8, 2023

BlackCoat13 said:
I was thinking a lot worse, they never did catch that Black Speech guy from the Roanoke incident who used the Black Lantern Symbol to create a bunch of necromancer traps and some evil super babies.
In a world of Anti-Life, Manheimm would probably be very interested in a guy who knowns about Black Lantern Lore / Black Light Elemental.

That was Dark Druid, and he was caught after the fight against Anton Arcane and his minions. Though I believe he was taken to the Tower of Fate by Nabu and hasn't been seen since.

Ardy · Oct 8, 2023

Ngamer11 said:
That was Dark Druid, and he was caught after the fight against Anton Arcane and his minions. Though I believe he was taken to the Tower of Fate by Nabu and hasn't been seen since.

he got fought when they freed real Constantine, but I don't remember what happened to him after

Mr Zoat · Oct 9, 2023

17th February 2013
18:08 GMT

"There's no off-switch!"

"And it's surprisingly flame-. Ah! Flame resistant!"

The woman laying on the floor under the control console was a pretty good programmer. She'd only been down about thirty seconds before the robot soldiers went autonomous. And it was only ten seconds after that that the two on guard duty outside-

I jump back and twist to throw an EMP batarang as a laser beam flashes through the air! I hit-. I miss the laser gun and hit the heavily insulated armour, the electrical discharge doing nothing at all to the robot.

-charged inside.

"Try freezing it!"

Match has got, like, three arms wrapped around him. They were bouncing him off the floor, but they gave up when it didn't work and now they're just trying to choke him out. Doesn't look like it's all that strong but it's super-flexible and kryptonian physical strength is way greater than their flying strength.

I back flip towards the creepy green incinerator as the other guard robot aims its laser at where I was, slashing through the air and melting the stone on the far side. I'm actually kinda impressed.

Smoke bomb. Actually-

I land and roll as the ceiling robot trying to hug Match to death fires a spare arm at me.

-let's make that two. I think they're using optic identification but they might have infrared vision. It's not that hard to make a camera that sees a little further into the red.

"Kinda hard to do if I can't-"

Okay, if EMP isn't going to work, I could try gel crystal. Have to get it right before they fire. The two robots are spreading out-

"-ugh-"

-and I guess a dead cat arrow might actually be useful as a distraction right now. Have to tell Roy when we get back.

"-concentrate!"

"Flashbang!"

The flashbang flies into the face of the ceiling robot and explodes, light and sound hopefully overwhelming its sensors. Match has ducked his head and closed his eyes, which-. Well, he'll still be deafened, but he can still see.

He grabs the arm around his neck with both hands, brings it up to his eyes and exhales, and a layer of frost forms on the metal as it super cools. Superman didn't used to be able to do that, but thanks to Angelika all the full kryptonians on Earth can kinda force the air in their lungs to stop vibrating and then breathe it out, absorbing all of the heat from the surrounding area as it starts vibrating again. I can feel the chill from-.

Whoops.

The sudden change in air pressure in the room blows a hole in my smoke clouds and I just push off the floor without thinking about it. The lasers flash underneath me as I hit the ceiling face-first and I'm reminded again that being a metahuman is actually pretty great because without the Danner formula? I'd have broken my nose at best.

"Y-ah!"

I hit the ground and dive out of the line of fire of the robots, getting just enough time to see Match shatter the metal of the arm and free himself before I throw another smoke grenade, roll and dive in the opposite direction. The hug-in-the-box-bot throws its remaining arms at the ground and pulls its bulk down right on top of Match, who breathes freezing air at it again as it descends. It should still be blinded, so how is it-? Vibrations, maybe?

Hit the ground, roll and throw smoke and keep going, preparing a liquid crystal batarang-. Now!

Two lasers point where I would have been if I'd repeated the dodge I used last time, and my batarang hits the closest before it can fire. There's a flash of red as the focusing crystal takes the brunt of the energy from the laser beam and has a meltdown, wrecking the laser.

Okay, that works.

I scurry past the woman, who's still unconscious. After I had to drug myself last time, Doctor Mist and Blue Lantern came up with a better way to get someone who'd been Anti-Lifed back on their feet. Liquid hope, with a nebuliser. It's really obvious in an Anti-Life zone when we use it, but I think we're already kinda obvious.

Stick it over her mouth, hit the switch and jump as the robot without a gun tries charging me down. Twist and push off the ceiling and slap an anti-armor charge on its back, dodge because it can rotate one-eighty at the waist and then dodge again because the explosion threw it at me.

Dead?

If it was designed like a human body then I just took out its neck above the shoulders, so that should be it as far as signals from the head go, but there's a small chance that its brain is in its chest or it uses short-range radio transmitters instead of wires. I didn't pick anything up before, but I'll know if it does it now.

I scramble and stick another charge on its back just in-.

Its arms reverse and grab me!

My computer pings a 'transmission detected' message as I shove my hands at its chest and try and stop it bear hugging me! Can't shout to get help from Match because the other robot will aim at the sound! Okay, think it through. Shift to the left-. Yes, it's just grabbing anything it can get hold of. It can't see to change its grip. So if I… Push… And get my knee between the chassis and my chest… I can push… Get a little space, grab another charge and stick it on the arm just below the shoulder and blow it!

BOOM!

The left arm loses all its strength, fingers still gripping but with no link to the upper arm its got no leverage. I slide out that way, its right arm clanking against its chest and then feeling around to try and find me.

That's kinda sad.

Then the other robot shoots it, and the laser burns right through the metal. Doesn't stop it trying to find me, it just makes it look more pathetic.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

The laser flashes out again. Five second recharge time run.

I pound across the stone floor, through the smoke and into the open where the robot is backing up. Guess it heard me. Not going to make it. Three. Draw crystal gel batarang and throw-.

The laser explodes, knocking the robot sideways and I'm sliding under it and reversing direction to slap charges on its upper and lower spine and jumping clear.

"Match, you-" The charges go off and the robot collapses. "-okay in-"

The weird pile of springs and arms shimmers slightly with frost, then shatters into super cooled metal fragments!

"-there?"

Match brushes off the metal and then shivers, rubbing his arms together for warmth.

"Yeah. Know who she is yet?"

"Not yet. I'm gunna take a look at the computer while we wait for her to wake-"

Something big slams into the door. It holds, but the other robots are only gunna keep coming.

"-up."

Match nods. "I'll hold the door."

Bud-E · Oct 9, 2023

Mr Zoat said:
He grabs the arm around his neck with both hands, brings it up to his eyes and exhales, and a layer of frost forms on the metal as it super cools. Superman didn't used to be able to do that, but thanks to Angela all the full kryptonians on Earth can kinda force the air in their lungs to stop vibrating and then breath it out, absorbing all of the heat from the surrounding area as it starts vibrating again. I can feel the chill from-.

Wait this universe Superman never figured out freeze breath why? Does he not experiment with his powers?

Ngamer11 · Oct 9, 2023

Bud-E said:
Wait this universe Superman never figured out freeze breath why? Does he not experiment with his powers?

It required knowledge of Kryptonian martial arts, which his database apparently didn't have.

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

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peekaboo, you fucks you!

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At the End...

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This is filth! FILTH!!

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